


Lemonade

by moonrise31



Series: once, twice, and again until it's over [18]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, aka 3mix ft mina do something about nayeon's love life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-12 22:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18455903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonrise31/pseuds/moonrise31
Summary: In which Nayeon learns that unfortunate first encounters can sometimes turn into something sweeter.





	Lemonade

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to the only hardcore namo fan I know xD You're the best!!

On any other day, Nayeon might have come home from work and reacted with a little more grace to the golf cart she found parked directly in front of her door. In fact, she probably could have calmly thought of at least six different reasons why such a vehicle had suddenly appeared -- including the theory that her roommate Jeongyeon had finally decided to take up a sport that matched her grandma-like tendencies, and that Nayeon was vindicated as the true youthful occupant of their shared apartment.

But today had not been a particularly good day. Nayeon had left her classroom with ears still ringing from the screams of hyperactive children, full of regrets about serving anything even remotely sugar-filled for snack time. She also sported at least three popsicle sticks, glued haphazardly but securely to large clumps of her hair, and she was fairly sure that that rascal Seungmin had managed to slap an extra handprint’s worth of paint on her cheek before he was picked up by his at least semi-apologetic mother.

So today, as Nayeon stepped up to her door and found an entire golf cart in her way, she wrinkled her nose and felt the dried paint on her cheek crack and flake against her skin.

Nayeon wanted to scream.

It was impressive, really, how exactly in the way the golf cart was. It had left no room for her to squeeze in between it and her door, nor could she easily crawl across the front or back seats to reach the door knob. Nayeon picked up her foot to aim an ill-mannered kick at the front wheel closest to her, but happened to glance down and notice the large wad of gum that had apparently been stuck to the toe of her shoe this entire time.

Nayeon stared at the discolored pink glob for a moment or two, thinking about how Jihyo had warned her that she might regret not having a “no bubblegum” rule. But Nayeon had been naive, too trusting of an entire classroom of six-year-olds and their ability to keep gum in their mouths, and now she was paying the ultimate price.

“That’s it,” Nayeon growled, stomping her foot so hard that an edge of the gum blob detached. “I’m getting into my own apartment, and no one is going to stop me. Even you,” she added heatedly, jabbing a menacing finger into the cushioned leather of the golf cart’s front seat. 

She took a step back, hands on her hips as she assessed the situation. Among general ill-tempered grumbles directed towards past-Nayeon’s decision to rent a first-floor apartment, where golf carts were apparently apt to get in her way, she thought that she might be able to reach the knob if she crawled into the front of the cart and bent her arm at the weirdest angle possible to try and stick her key in the keyhole.

There was still the issue of managing to get into her apartment after she unlocked the door. But she decided that this, with luck, would be a problem for the Nayeon five minutes from now.

With some difficulty, she crawled onto the driver’s side of the golf cart’s front seat, slinging her bag into the back for later. She accidentally kneed the steering wheel on her way past -- because of course a golf cart as obnoxious as this one would have a horn that really had no business being _that_ loud. But at this point, Nayeon was much past caring about causing a scene for her neighbors.

The seatback of the front row was positioned just in front of her doorknob, but Nayeon figured there was just enough room to slide her key in between and, if she aimed right, unlock the door. Unfortunately, the maneuver still involved some strange wrist twisting and general cramping of fingers, and so Nayeon ended up dropping the key, along with several choice phrases that she really shouldn’t ever utter in front of her students.

“Um.”

She whipped around at the voice, promptly banging her head into the roof of the golf cart. Nayeon cursed again, rubbing her skull as she attempted to back out while also looking over her shoulder. 

“Hi, sorry, um, can I help you?” A tentative hand waved at the edge of her periphery, but she couldn’t see much of the person attached to it. 

“I can do it -- just -- ugh -- give me a second.” After a few more grunts and grumbles, Nayeon managed to blindly place one foot back on the ground, and then the other. She carefully ducked out from under the golf cart roof and straightened, dusting off her jeans. Then she turned to face the woman hovering near her. 

“Uh, hello,” the woman said again, grinning nervously.

Nayeon jerked a thumb at the golf cart. “Is this yours?”

“Yeah. I mean, I left it there.” The woman bowed a few times, and Nayeon was momentarily reminded of those plastic birds sitting on restaurant counters that bob for toothpicks. “I’m so sorry, I was just helping Mrs. Kim up the stairs. I should’ve thought more about where I was parking, though. I’m sorry.”

Nayeon pursed her lips, and focused on breathing out of her nose. Her apartment was in fact just by the stairwell. And it was hard to stay mad at someone whose expression was sort of like Kookeu’s whenever Nayeon tried to scold him for jumping on her parents’ couch, again. But Nayeon was also standing with paint on her face and glue in her hair and a large wad of gum still stuck to the toe of her shoe. 

Finally, she let out a loud exhale and stepped back. “Just get it out of the way and we’ll call it even, okay?”

“Okay! Okay, yes, of course.” The woman rushed to jump behind the wheel, and backed the golf cart away from the door just moments later. 

“Don’t you have a parking permit for that thing?” Nayeon grunted as she crouched down to pick up her key. “And if you do, you should use it, instead of the walkway.”

“It’s not mine; I’m just returning it.” The woman flushed and bowed again -- or at least, as much as she could while sitting in the driver’s seat. “It won’t happen again, I promise. Oh, and here’s your bag.”

“Thanks,” said Nayeon, straightening and grabbing the bag by its shoulder straps. 

“Sorry again,” the other said. “I’ll get out of your way now.”

Nayeon cleared her throat. “Okay, yeah. Just -- don’t do that, again.”

The woman nodded furiously, and then zoomed off down the walkway as fast as the golf cart would go. Which granted, was about as fast as Mrs. Kim could walk on a good day, but Nayeon understood the thought that was behind it.

It took Nayeon all of thirty seconds to unlock her door, walk into an empty apartment, and collapse onto the living room couch. She spent some time staring at the ceiling as she mulled over what had just transpired, connecting the dots speckled onto it into patterns of sad puppy faces and children blowing bubblegum.

Five minutes later, the door swung open again, and her roommate walked in.

Jeongyeon spared Nayeon a glance before throwing her keys on the coffee table. “You look like you had a rough day.”

“Jeongyeon,” said Nayeon faintly, “I think I need to report a robbery.”

“Did a kid steal your Batman pen?” Jeongyeon dropped onto the couch next to Nayeon, and nudged her shoulder into the older woman a little when she didn’t immediately give more space. “Because I hate to break it to you, but that thing had to go.”

“I think someone stole a golf cart,” Nayeon said to the ceiling. “Someone stole a golf cart, and I just let her drive away.”

Jeongyeon leaned forward to grab the bag Nayeon had tossed onto the table. She unzipped the pocket and rummaged through the mess of items inside until she pulled out a slightly deformed, but still intact, granola bar. She tore open the wrapper. “What makes you say that?”

“Who would steal a golf cart, anyway?” Nayeon suddenly sat up, and Jeongyeon dropped a piece of the granola bar onto her lap. “Out of all the things she could steal at a golf course, isn’t an entire cart a bit much?”

Jeongyeon retrieved the fallen granola piece and blew on it before popping it into her mouth. She dusted the crumbs off her jeans. “Who are we talking about again?” 

Nayeon sighed and sank back into the couch. “No one. Just some girl.”

“It’s always ‘just some girl’,” Jeongyeon said sagely. “The next thing you know, you’ll start seeing her everywhere.” She nudged her elbow into Nayeon’s side. “Maybe even in your dreams, you know what I’m saying?”

Nayeon groaned. “Go away.” And screeched when Jeongyeon flicked a piece of granola at her nose.

\--

The next week, Nayeon was having a much better time with her first grade class. She had successfully resisted the pouts and whines that came in response to her sudden “no bubblegum starting today -- no, not even mint gum, Chaeryeong, put that back in your backpack.” She’d also discovered some low-sugar crackers and fruit snacks at the grocery store that were less prone to inducing hyperactive screaming, and picked up the habit of tying her hair back to avoid any more unfortunate craft-related incidents.

All in all, Nayeon’s life had settled impressively after the weekend Jeongyeon dragged her to an amusement park to vent all of her frustrations through overpriced junk food and stomach-dropping carnival rides. Until Wednesday afternoon, when one of her students had yet to be picked up from school, even though the last bell had rung thirty minutes ago. 

Yuta, for his part, remained relatively unconcerned that his mother had not come by yet. Which left Nayeon to alternate between casting glances at the boy quietly stacking blocks in the free-time corner and the phone on her desk that remained oddly mute instead of blowing up with calls from the office informing her where Yuta’s parents might be.

“I’m sorry I’m late!”

Nayeon’s head snapped up to stare at the person who had just burst into the room. Yuta also turned around, his grin wide and missing one front tooth as he jumped up. “Auntie!”

“Hey, kiddo.” The woman chuckled as he ran over and wrapped his arms around her legs. She reached down to ruffle his hair. “Were you good for your teacher?”

Yuta nodded vigorously, loosening his hold to turn towards Nayeon’s desk. “Teacher Im is over there!”

The woman straightened, already smiling apologetically as she began to bow. “Again, my deepest apologies --”

“You.”

The woman froze. 

“You,” said Nayeon lowly, stare unwavering, “stole a golf cart.”

“I -- no!” She waved her hands frantically, like she was batting all of Nayeon’s assumptions into the wastepaper bin by her desk. “I wasn’t stealing it, I promise! I work at the golf course, and some kids hijacked the cart and drove into the city. I had to run after them and get it back, but after I saw Mrs. Kim struggling with all of her groceries, I thought it’d be rude not to offer a ride if I was going to drive past anyway.”

Nayeon squinted. The woman stared back, eyes wider than saucers. And it was probably that earnest look that swayed Nayeon more than the flood of explanation that had accompanied it. Then again, Nayeon’s mom had actually laughed the first time Nayeon announced her decision to become a grade school teacher, saying that she’d be an easy pushover for any student with a good set of puppy-dog eyes.

In the end, Nayeon would always be a lost cause when it came to Kookeu, and apparently this particular woman was no different. So Nayeon could only sigh as she got up from her seat. “You’re Yuta’s aunt?”

“I’m Hana’s sister, yes.” The woman immediately perked up. “Hirai Momo. You’re Teacher Im?”

“Nayeon is fine,” said Nayeon before she could stop herself. “You know that school ends at three-thirty, right?”

“Yes, I’m so sorry.” Momo bowed again. “Something came up for Hana last-minute, so she called me to pick Yuta up instead. But we were already running late at that point, and I had to come from the other side of Seoul.”

Nayeon’s lip twitched -- almost into a smile, and completely against her will. “It’s alright, since this is the first time. But for future reference, you should call the main office so they can let me know you’ll be here late.”

Momo nodded vigorously. “Yes, definitely. Thank you so much, and sorry again.” She patted Yuta’s shoulder. “Let’s go home, okay?”

Nayeon bid them goodbye, and then the two almost ran into Jihyo at the doorway. Momo bowed and apologized once more, ushering Yuta fully out of the room. The boy giggled at something she murmured before suddenly taking off down the hallway. Momo stared after him for a split second, and then broke into a jog. “Yuta! Don’t run, I’m in enough trouble with your teacher already!” 

“Late pickup?” Jihyo walked up to Nayeon’s desk and leaned on it with one hand. “That was Hirai Hana’s kid, right?”

“Yeah. Momo’s her sister, I guess,” Nayeon answered absentmindedly as she straightened the pen holder next to where Jihyo’s hand was resting. “Momo’s also the one who left a golf cart outside of my apartment last week.”

Jihyo’s eyebrows raised. “That was her?”

Nayeon nodded, and then pushed in her chair and picked up her bag. “Yup, small world. Ready to go?”

“Hold on.” Jihyo stepped in front of her. Nayeon narrowed her eyes at the younger woman’s grin. Jihyo leaned in. “Unnie, are you crushing on your student’s aunt?”

Nayeon choked on nothing for a few moments, sputtering and stammering until she finally managed a weak, “ _What_?”

Jihyo’s grin widened from _playfully mischievous_ to _definitely evil_. “You are. You are totally crushing on her. Wow, I think that’s a new record, but I guess you’ve pretty much had her over at your place already.”

“Park Jihyo!” Nayeon nearly screeched. “Shut _up_. I’ve talked to her for a total of five minutes. How could I possibly be crushing on her?”

“Because you have that look on your face,” Jihyo said, giving a careless shrug. “That same one you had when you crushed on Jeongyeon in secondary school.”

Nayeon crossed her arms. “I was twelve and just figured out that I like girls. She was the first girl I thought of who wasn’t stupidly annoying, but then she proved me wrong by the end of the week.”

Jihyo’s smirk turned positively sly. “And what about that crush you had on me during university?”

“You?” Nayeon rolled her eyes. “The actual spawn of Satan that was tossed onto this rubbish dump we call Earth literally just to be the bane of my existence? I think not.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, unnie,” Jihyo said airily. “But my point still stands. You like Hirai Momo.”

“This coming from someone who hasn’t asked _her_ crush out for almost an entire year.” Nayeon huffed as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “I’m starting to think this dream girl of yours is as imaginary as your supposedly angelic personality that won over the entire school administration.”

Jihyo gave Nayeon’s shoulder a sympathetic pat. “You’ll get Teacher of the Month one day, unnie.” She winked. “You just have to stop walking into staff meetings with popsicle sticks glued to your hair.”

“You couldn’t even ask for an extra set of classroom pencils by yourself two years ago,” Nayeon grumbled as they stepped into the hallway. She rooted through her bag and pulled out her keys to lock the door. “And now you’re all but directing the principal on how to budget supplies for the whole school.”

“I grew up,” Jihyo said with another shrug. “I understand why you wouldn’t want to get any older though, unnie. I can hear your knees creaking from here.”

Nayeon resisted throwing her keys at Jihyo’s wisely ducked head, but just barely. Then the other woman straightened and dashed down the hallway, her laughter bouncing off the walls and drowning out Nayeon’s enraged, “Park Jihyo! Stop running in the hall or I’ll _tell on you_!”

\--

On Saturday, Nayeon and Jeongyeon started their usual morning routine: Jeongyeon blasting Oh My Girl’s latest hits from the kitchen until Nayeon stomped in to jab at the speaker with half-asleep fingers, toothbrush shoved in her mouth and pointedly dripping toothpaste foam onto the table when Jeongyeon complained. By the time Nayeon had gotten around to throwing on a hoodie and shorts -- thank the heavens for weekends without a schoolteacher dress code -- Jeongyeon had made enough coffee and scrambled eggs for the both of them.

Minutes later, Nayeon sat back in her seat, exhaling loudly as she set her chopsticks down.

“Feeling like a civilized human being again?” Jeongyeon asked over the rim of her coffee mug.

“More or less,” said Nayeon. “Thanks for breakfast. I’ll try to make something not-ramyun later.”

“Yeah, about that.” Jeongyeon glanced at their refrigerator. “We have no food.”

Nayeon blinked. “What? I thought I went shopping just last week.”

“We did in fact eat multiple times, every day, for the entire week,” Jeongyeon deadpanned. “Also, half of your groceries were just snacks you tried out on me first before you deemed them safe to serve to your students.”

“You were a bad test case to begin with,” Nayeon agreed. “You wouldn’t know the happiness of a sugar high if it slapped you in the face.” She stood up and grabbed both of their plates before Jeongyeon could retort. “Okay, let’s go shopping.”

At the grocery store, Jeongyeon drifted towards the fruits and vegetables section, while Nayeon headed straight for the packaged foods aisle -- Jeongyeon had put her in charge of the meats, but she figured she’d check out the nonperishable items first, just like any other responsible adult would.

This particular store carried a Japanese ramen Nayeon sometimes substituted for lunch whenever she was behind on setting up afternoon activities while her class was out for recess. It wasn’t the healthiest, of course, but she figured the tomato-flavored powder counted for half of a vegetable, more or less.

The ramen was hard to spot among the various other flashy packages with bright bubbly lettering, but Nayeon knew the location by heart. Which was why she didn’t even bother looking as she reached for a package, busy scanning the nearby brands to see if she might be able to convince Jeongyeon to try one of them this time. Instead of crinkly plastic, however, her hand landed on another.

“Oh, sorry!”

Nayeon jerked back, spinning around to stare at the other person who’d reached for the package at the same time. 

“Um,” said Momo, raising a hand to give a weak wave. “Hi, Nayeon?”

“Hi.” Nayeon belatedly realized that she’d sort of clenched her hand into a fist, holding it half-raised like she might start a brawl in this very aisle over some heavily processed noodles. She lowered her fist and cleared her throat. “So we meet again.”

“I’m not stealing this ramen, I promise.” Momo chuckled lightly -- in the same way she might laugh if she suddenly found herself trapped in a cage with a vaguely friendly lion -- and grabbed the package. She held it out to Nayeon, the tips of her fingers barely grasping the corner. “Here you go.”

Nayeon shook her head, gently pushing the ramen back towards Momo. “No, it’s okay. It’s not like it’s the last one, or anything.”

“Oh, right.” Momo straightened, eyes bright. “Thank you.” She dropped the ramen into her shopping cart. Nayeon banished the sudden thought of Kookeu wagging his tail as Momo met her gaze again. “I didn’t think anyone else liked this flavor. I have a friend who’s probably going to marry ketchup one day, and she won’t even come near this.”

Nayeon laughed. “Funny, one of my friends is like that too. But,” she shrugged, “more for us, I guess.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Momo’s smile burst into a grin. Then she paused, glancing up at something above Nayeon’s eyeline. “Are you going to wear those inside?”

“What?” Nayeon looked up, too, and noticed that she had been reaching for the sunglasses resting on her head. “Oh.” Her hand dropped again. She was left blinking in the mildly fluorescent grocery store light, still in the face of Momo’s smile. “Sorry, it just got really bright all of a sudden.”

“I get really excited about food too,” Momo said, as if Nayeon’s explanation made perfect sense. “Sometimes I think I can actually ascend if I eat something tasty enough.”

“It’s a good feeling.” Nayeon felt the corner of her lips twitch, and she let it stretch into a smile, this time.

“Im Nayeon. There you are.” Jeongyeon swept into the aisle, approaching from behind Momo. “Have you even started looking for actual food yet?”

Nayeon stepped back -- she hadn’t realized she was standing so close to Momo before. “Oh, um. Yeah, sorry I, uh. I was just going to go now.” She grabbed a packet from the shelf and tossed it into her basket. “Got my ramen.”

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes. “It’s fine, I already got the pork and eggs. We just need to check out.” She stopped beside Momo, casting the other woman a thoughtful glance. “Hi, are you a friend of Nayeon’s?”

Momo smiled and dipped her head slightly. “We’ve run into each other a few times. I’m Momo.”

“Huh.” Jeongyeon stared at Momo until just before the silence stretched a little too long. “I’m Jeongyeon. If you guys are done catching up, we’ll see you around?”

“Probably,” Momo agreed cheerfully. “Bye Jeongyeon, bye Nayeon!”

Nayeon waved goodbye, basket dangling loosely in the grip of her other hand. It took her a few seconds to realize that Jeongyeon was still standing next to her, texting intensely. “Hey, ready to go?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Jeongyeon’s eyes remained glued to her phone even as they made their way to the checkout counter. Nayeon nudged her in the shoulder, and she shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just had to ask Jihyo something.”

“It better be about when she’s going to ask her crush out,” said Nayeon as she steered Jeongyeon towards the shortest line. “She was giving me so much grief the other day just because I met Momo for the second time. Did you know that Momo’s actually the girl I thought stole a golf cart? And then parked it in front of our apartment to help Mrs. Kim with her groceries.”

“You don’t say,” said Jeongyeon in the tone of voice that suggested she and Jihyo had been talking behind Nayeon’s back again. But Nayeon didn’t get too much time to needle her because they were up next at the register. And after Nayeon paid, Jeongyeon brought up noraebang plans with Jihyo and a few others the next weekend, and that was much more exciting to discuss than the usual scheming Nayeon’s best friends busied themselves with; it always ended up at her expense, and she much preferred the results of said schemes to be a concern for a Nayeon of the future.

Once they had returned to their apartment, Jeongyeon convinced Nayeon that she should be the one to put all the groceries away. It was one of the more practical things Jeongyeon had suggested so far that day, so Nayeon agreed with little resistance. She had just finished sliding the carton of eggs onto a refrigerator shelf when her phone rang.

Mina’s name flashed on the screen, and Nayeon couldn’t help but grin -- usually forcing the younger woman to call her first was harder than pulling teeth. She nudged the refrigerator door closed with her foot as she answered the call. 

“Hi, unnie,” said Mina. “I have a problem that I was hoping you would be able to help me with.”

“Sure thing.” Nayeon dropped into a chair at the kitchen table. “Anything for my favorite mentee.”

“That was four years ago, and I was your only mentee for all of university,” Mina reminded her, but there wasn’t any bite hidden in the softness of her voice. After some rustling on the other end of the line, Mina said, “I’m going to put you on speaker, unnie. I’m cooking.”

“Go ahead.” Nayeon rested her chin in her free hand. “So what’s your problem?”

“It’s more of a dilemma,” Mina said after a moment. “It’s just...there’s this girl.”

Nayeon immediately straightened. “Myoui Mina, interested in something other than ketchup or penguins? When did this happen?” She laughed at the long whine that followed. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. So there’s this girl?”

“There’s this girl,” Mina confirmed. “I’ve seen her around a few times. And I think I might like her.”

“That’s adorable,” Nayeon cooed. “You’ve already surpassed every single drama I’ve ever watched, and that’s saying something.”

Mina let out a laugh. “Really? I mean, I’m not sure I actually like her. I always thought that love at first sight was just something for films and books, you know. Not real life.”

“It doesn’t have to be love,” Nayeon said. “You could catch yourself thinking of her and what things you’d like to know more about, for example.”

“But that just sounds like I want to be friends with her,” said Mina. 

“Sure.” Nayeon hummed, thinking. “But maybe you also feel warm whenever you see her smile, or maybe she makes you unsteady on your feet just by standing in front of you.”

“Maybe I was wearing too many clothes that day, or maybe I didn’t eat enough for lunch,” Mina countered.

Nayeon chuckled. “Okay. But maybe, you start comparing her to all of your favorite things, until all of a sudden she becomes a favorite thing on her own.”

There was a pause as Mina presumably finished cutting something -- although the knife thuds against the cutting board sounded more like muted clapping, in Nayeon’s opinion. “I guess,” Mina finally said. “Hey, unnie, want to maybe grab coffee sometime? At the usual place? So we can talk about all of this...more.”

Nayeon nodded, and then remembered Mina couldn’t see her. “Yeah, of course. When’s a good time?”

“Um, let me see.” There was more rustling, and then Mina said, “How about tomorrow? Four in the afternoon?”

“Yeah, that’ll work.” Nayeon leaned back in her chair, frowning when she heard whispering on the other end of the line. “Mina? Is someone else there?”

“Nope, no one, I’m just gaming,” Mina said quickly. “See you tomorrow, unnie!”

Nayeon’s brow furrowed. “Gaming? I thought you said you were cook --”

The dial tone droned in her ear. When Jeongyeon walked into the kitchen minutes later, Nayeon was still staring at her phone. The younger woman stopped beside her. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” said Nayeon, deciding that if anyone could cook dinner and play video games at the same time, it would be Mina. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Uh, no you’re not.” Jeongyeon held up the carton Nayeon had left on the counter. “You forgot to put the ice cream in the freezer.”

Nayeon rolled her eyes and got up, swiping the container from Jeongyeon before pulling open the freezer door. “It tastes better when it’s already been melted once, anyway.”

\--

Nayeon didn’t spot Mina when she entered the cafe on Sunday, but it was still a few minutes until four. She stepped into line at the counter, scanning the menu absentmindedly as she contemplated whether to deviate from her usual order.

The bell above the cafe door jingled from somewhere behind her. And seconds later, “Oh, Nayeon!”

Nayeon turned around. “Momo?”

Momo grinned. “So we meet again.”

Nayeon laughed. “Yeah, so it seems. I’m just here to see a friend.”

“Me too.” Momo hummed as she glanced at the menu board over Nayeon’s shoulder. “I actually haven’t been to this cafe before. What do you usually get?”

“Oh, most of the time I order -- excuse me.” Nayeon pulled her phone out, opening the message that had just buzzed in her pocket. 

“That’s okay, take your time.” Momo glanced down at her phone, its screen bright with a new notification. “I guess my friend is here too.”

“Yeah, about that...” Nayeon looked up. She cleared her throat. “Are you sure?”

“Oh.” Momo squinted at her screen. “ ‘Hi Nayeon-unnie and Momo-unnie, here are your numbers if you haven’t exchanged them already.’”

“ ‘Sorry for tricking you, but you’ll thank us for it later. Love, Mina and Jihyo’,” Nayeon finished. She paused, eyes narrowing the signature. “Mina and Jihyo. Mina _and_ Jihyo.”

“Right,” said Momo, snapping her fingers, “Jihyo is that girl Mina’s been seeing for the last couple of weeks. She sounds nice.”

“Sure,” Nayeon said, playing back a million instances in her recent memory and noting how every one of them did _not_ have Jihyo mentioning that her crush had been Myoui Mina all this time. “In the same way that wet socks or cockroaches taking over the world after the apocalypse are nice.”

Momo frowned. “Those don’t sound nice at all.”

“No,” said Nayeon, calmly sending off a text -- _I don’t care how, but you are making me Teacher of the Month until I retire_. “No, it’s not nice at all.” Her eye twitched when she received a smiley face tacked onto a backhanded _So just for this month, right? Happy retirement!!_ “Anyway, I guess we should get our coffees?”

“We don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to,” Momo said as the line moved forward another person. “Or, we don’t have to make a big deal about it. Just have a nice chat and get to know each other better. As friends!” she added. “If you want.”

Nayeon chuckled, smile pushing at her cheeks as she shook her head. Then she took a breath. “It’s alright, Momo. I’d love to sit down and talk. On one condition.”

Momo’s eyes widened a little. “What’s that?”

Nayeon grinned. “If you let me buy your drink?”

“Oh.” Momo ducked her head as she laughed, slipping her hands into her pockets. “I feel like I should be the one buying. After inconveniencing you so much and everything.”

“You offered me the first ramen packet yesterday,” Nayeon said. “We can call it even.” 

Momo pursed her lips a little as she thought, and Nayeon found herself tracking the movement a little more closely than she’d like to admit. “Okay, but I get to pick the drinks.”

“Alright,” Nayeon said, her smile somehow growing even wider; her face was starting to ache, but in a good way. “Deal.”

Momo ended up picking hot chocolate for both herself and Nayeon -- the cheapest on the menu. And Nayeon admittedly wasn’t a huge fan of sweet drinks and the way the artificial sugar stuck cloyingly onto her tongue. 

But later that day, she quickly added that cafe’s hot chocolate to her list of favorite things, right next to Momo’s eager eyes and how she wanted to reach for her sunglasses every time they curved into a brilliant smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me almost anywhere @moonrise31 so let's be friends!


End file.
